Introduction to English Linguistics (I)

Professor Seongha Rhee

srhee@hufs.ac.kr

Ch.1. Brain and Language (3-28)

1. The Human Brain

10 billion neurons + billions of fibers

- cortex

• about 3 pounds (1.5 kg)

• 100 million pieces of info/sec received

• 100 trillion neuron connections

• Info at connections

>> 20 million volumes

>> takes 3 million years for storing

info 1 piece/sec

• Orangutan/Chimpanzee: 450cc

• Gorilla: 700cc

• Human: 1,500cc

• works on electricity

• 2% body weight, 25% energy consumption

cerebral hemispheres

- contralateral brain function

1.1 The Localization of Language in the Brain

• localization

• Phineas Gage case 1848

Cavendish, VT

[Aphasia]

• language impairment irrelevant to general cognitive/intellectual,

sensory/motor impairment

• Broca's area, Broca's aphasia, Broca's aphasics, agrammatic aphasia

omission of grammatical items, word order (e.g. in passives)

[Broca’s Aphasia]

[Doctor: Could you tell me what you have been doing in the hospital?]

Yes, sure. Me go, er, uh, P.T. none o'cot, speech ... two times... read... r...

ripe... rike... uh write... practice... get... ting... better.

[Doctor: And have you been going home on weekends?]

Why, yes... Thursday uh... uh... uh... no... Friday... Bar... ba... ra... wife... and

oh car... drive... purpike... you know... rest... and TV.

"The cat was chased by the dog." cf. "The car was chased by the dog."

• Wernicke's aphasics:

Wernicke's area, Wernicke's aphasia,

Wernicke's aphasics

[Wernicke’s aphasia]

- fluent, unintelligible speech

I felt worse because I can no longer

keep in mind from the mind of the minds

to keep me from mind and up to the ear

which can be to find among ourselves.

• lexical defect (anomalous jargons):

- ‘fork’: a need for a schedule

- re cause of poor vision:

My wires don't hire right.

- ‘chair’: engine

• semantic relation:

- ‘chair’: table

- ‘boy’: girl

.......

- The only thing that I can say again

is madder or modder fish sudden

fishing sewed into the accident to

miss in the purdles.

- Me? Yes sir. I'm a male demaploze

on my own. I still know my tubaboys

what for I have that's gone hell and

some of them go.

• word substitution

pool - tool

table - sable

crucial - crucible...

table - chair

boy - girl...

• What does all this suggest???

[Acquired dyslexia]

• symmetry:

symmetrical body, asymmetrical brain

• inconsistent response:

matter of performance, not competence

• phonological similarity:

words in the lexicon organized by phonology

and semantics

• omission of grammatical morphemes:

lexical vs. grammatical categories

• deaf signers w/ LH damage show aphasia

• anomia (TOT: tip-of-tongue)

[Historical Descriptions of Aphasia]

• Greek Hippocratic physicians:

reported right-side paralysis and speech loss

• Zacharias (in Luke):

could write but not speak

• Psalm 137: right-side paralysis and speech loss:

"If I forget thee, Oh Jerusalem, may my right

hand lose its cunning and my tongue cleave

to the roof of my mouth."

• Valerius Maximus (Roman writer, BCE30):

describes an Athenian who suffered loss of reading

abilities (others intact) resulting from a hit on the head

with a stone.

• Johannes Gesner (1770):

describes language difficulties attributable to specific

impairment to language memory

• Carl Linnaeus (1745):

describes a jargon aphasia victim

1.2 Brain & Technology

1.2.1 Brain Imaging Technology

- MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)

- CT (computed tomography)

- PET (positron emission tomography)

• CT (computed tomography)

• MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)

• PET (positron emission tomography)

1.2.2 Brain Plasticity and Lateralization

in Early Life

- early development of language areas

- plasticity

cf. hemispherectomy: hemisphere removal

1.2.3 Split Brains

• crisscross info system

[hemispheric specialization]

[monkey response experiments]

(independence of brain sides)

(1) Train to respond to visual Stimulus A with both hands

(2) Sever corpus callosum

(3) Give visual stimulus A to left visual field

>> left hand response

[Human Experiment]

1.2.4 Other Experimental Evidence

of Brain Organization

[dichotic listening] • linguistic vs. linguistic

• linguistic vs. non-linguistic

• non-linguistic vs. non-linguistic

linguistic linguistic

non-linguistic non-linguistic

non-linguistic linguistic

linguistic non-linguistic

[Japanese reading kana vs. kanji]

• LH-damage patient: difficulties with kana

• RH-damage patient: difficulties with kanji

• LH advantage for kana

• RH advantage for kanji

kana ⇒ ⇐ kanji ぁ い ぇ つ ひ そ.. 漢字 日本 水 甁 座

2. Autonomy of Language

• SLI children show differential behavior

with functional vs. lexical classes

“Meowmeow chase mice.”

“Show me knife.”

“It not long one.”

2.1 Other Dissociation of Language and Cognition

[Asymmetry of Abilities]

• savants (= idiot savants)

• Laura (IQ 41-44)

• Christopher (IQ 60-70)

2.2 Genetic Evidence for Language Autonomy

• SLI is a heritable disorder.

cf. tense-distinction difficulties

“She remembered when she hurts herself the other day.”

“He did it then he fall.”

“The boy climb up the tree and frightened the bird away.”

3. Language and Brain Development

3.1 The Critical Period

[The Critical-Age Hypothesis]

• Lenneberg's study

- Victor, Amala & Kamala, Genie, Chelsea

- Genie's language lateralization on the RH

- Chelsea's language not lateralized (equal response on LH & RH)

>> Children cannot fully acquire language unless

they are exposed to it within the critical period.

3.2 A Critical Period for Bird Songs

• some show CP; some don't.

• chaffinch: fully developed song in stages (10 months CP)

• cuckoo: fully developed song from birth

• bullfinch: completely learned

4. The Evolution of Language

4.1 The Origin of Language

- religions & myths

- 1886 resolution of the Linguistic Society of Paris

- God's gift to mankind?

- religion and awareness of language accuracy

4.2 The First Language

• Psammetichus (7c. BC)

• Frederick II (13c.)

• James IV (15c.)

• Becanus (16c.)

• Noah Webster (19c.)

• monogenetic theory of language origin

4.3 Human Invention or the Cries of Nature?

• language from courting (Jespersen)

• bow-wow theory

• pooh-pooh theory

• ding-dong theory...

4.4 The Development of Language in the Species

• human vs. primates (degree? qualitative leap?)

• discontinuity view...

“Language is species specific.”

• vocal cords?

(cf. mynah birds and parrots;

hearing-language independence in signers)

• brain change, lateralization...

(cf. lateralization in birds and monkeys)

Thank you!

See you next week!